The expansion of the club of five is set to top the agenda when the BRICS nations convene in the South African city of Johannesburg on Tuesday. More than a handful of hopefuls — 23 in fact, including Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Iran, Argentina and Ethiopia — are interested in joining the bloc.
South Africa’s top representative to BRICS, Anil Sooklal, told US economic outlet Bloomberg that leaders would draw up a statement on the expansion of the group beyond Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, and that this would represent a major shake-up of the existing world order.
Russia’s war in Ukraine, related sanctions, criticism of the dollar’s role in international finance and the global balance of power: this BRICS summit is about more than many developing and middle-income countries turning away from the West. It’s about them asserting their growing self-confidence.
For China, it’s about ‘countering the Americans’
“China is benefitting from the anti-Americanism of BRICS countries, which is drawing many countries in the Global South closer to China,” Felix Lee, an expert on the politics of the Asian super economy, told DW. “That is the goal China is pursuing with BRICS.”
